Concert Review: Afro-Punk Festival (Brooklyn, NY)

Afro-Punk Festival
Commodore Barry Park, Brooklyn, NY

June 25-27, 2010

I had the great opportunity to escape the D.C. humidity last weekend and head up to Brooklyn, New York for the sixth annual Afro-Punk Festival. The creators of the Afro-Punk Festival describe Afro-Punk as a movement geared towards crossing cultural boundaries and embracing individuality and this uniqueness was clearly evident throughout the weekend. The festival began Friday with BMX and Skate competitions for interested participants. The music portion of the festival started Saturday with acts such as P.O.S., The Bots, Ninjasonik, and others all opening for the evening's headliner, Bad Brains. Fitting with the whole point of the Afro-Punk Festival, there was a wide range of music genres represented throughout the weekend but each set was connected in that they all required tons of dancing (or jumping) and lots of sweat. The Bots were probably my favorite performance Saturday night. They haven't even graduated from high school yet (the drummer is actually only 12), and the duo behind The Bots, brothers Mikaiah and Anaiah Lei, seem to have already amassed a strong following of fans. Their music ranges from punk to reggae and everything in between. Both boys are really talented musicians and by the time they actually do finish high school they're going to be pretty much unstoppable. They are eagerly anticipating the July 25th release of their debut album Self-Titled Album and I'm excited to hear what they're bringing. As for the most anticipated set of the night, often named the originators of the Punk genre, Bad Brains were amazing. They performed songs from their 1982 self-titled album (including the infamous "Banned in D.C.") to tracks off their latest 2007 release, Build A Nation. Even if you're like me and not the biggest fan of punk rock, watching lead vocalist H.R. on stage is an adventure in itself. Just standing in front of the mic he displays this spiritual aurora as if he's going to perform some voodoo on you just from eye contact. His essence combined with the rest of the band's playing created a crazy connection between those on stage and everyone watching in the audience.

Sunday was longer and hotter but still amazing. The lineup included Martin Luther, J*Davey, The Cool Kids, and the legendary Mos Def. Kid-Cudi also made a guest appearance during The Cool Kids' set which pretty much sent the crowd off into frantic screaming. All of the artists played great sets but the highlight of the night was definitely Mos Def. If you have not yet had the chance to see Mos Def live I highly recommend you do so asap! He is such an amazing live performer: completely confident on stage but still humble enough to read and play off the vibe from the crowd. Majority of the songs performed during his set were from his 2009 album The Ecstatic but he took it back a few times for the fans to play select songs from his debut album Black On Both Sides. Mos Def was hands-down my favorite performance from the whole festival but I was introduced to a bunch of awesome new bands and played witness to some great performances. Overall, Afro-Punk is definitely a unique festival and I'm excited to add this to my regular list of annual summer concerts.

-- Dominique Barron

Check out the photos below:

Did The Intern Show Up? Vol. 2: Lingo.

Today’s post is brought to you courtesy of 75-degree days and homeless foot fetishists trying to convince me to take my shoes off in Clark Park (West Philly, I love you so much). Steven’s response to the text message I sent about that? “You should have asked him for $$$$$$!” My boss, ladies and gentlemen. Encouraging park prostitution since 2010. All of this is true.

So let’s talk for a second about how I now sound like every other middle-aged punk and skate kid in the city of Philadelphia. The first week here, I had no idea what anyone was talking about roughly 60% of the time. There would just be these words, and people would say them to each other and nod like they made complete sense while I sat in the corner with what I’m sure was a really attractive confused look on my face. Yes, of course, I understand what you’re saying. Except for the part where I don’t, not at all.

Steven finally noticed that one day when he did his whole pointing vaguely and asking me to do whatever thing and I just looked at him. He took pity on me and tried to break down the lingo so that I could a) understand what people were saying and b) actually respond without sounding like an idiot. Here’s what I learned:

• jawn – functions kind of like the word “widget,” used to refer to a random thing; can also be used to refer to a girl; i.e. Can you get me that jawn over there? or Damn, look at the jawn in the purple cut-offs.
• punk – used to refer to anything cool or widely accepted as being awesome; i.e. Fishtown Pizza delivers for free? That’s punk. or Ticket surcharges are so not punk.
• hoagie – what people in Philly call their sandwiches
• bummed out – frequently used to express disappointment, sadness, mild anger, or frustration; i.e. Man, Chicken would be so bummed out if he saw this.
• yo – always an acceptable form of greeting or way of grabbing someone’s attention
• stoked – really excited; i.e. I’m so stoked for the Post Post show in August! That band is rad.
• man – the regional replacement for the word “dude,” which people will make fun of you for using

Feature: When THE VILLAGERS Come to Town

Igor caught up with Villagers front man Conor O'brien before his solo set at DC9 to talk about being on tour and how he feels about the album Becoming a Jackal now that its getting a good deal of attention. Listen to the feature below!

Villagers Feature by igorgerman



And a video after the jump

Concert Review: Disappears, Woven Bones, Far-Out Fangtooth (Philadelphia, PA)

Disappears w/ Woven Bones and Far-Out Fangtooth
Kung Fu Necktie (Philadelphia, PA)
June 17, 2010

Okay, I’ll admit it. As much as I like my bearded bards of folk music and hipster heroes of indie rock, my heart will always more or less belong to the lo-fi garage rock scene. I live for the fuzzed-out noise, the relentless guitars, the almost impossible to understand vocals. If I could do nothing but go to crowded warehouse shows of this variety for the rest of my life, I would probably be the happiest person on the planet. Give me your unbearably tight black jeans, your whiskey drinkers, your crappy black hair dye.

Basically, give me shows like the one Chicago band Disappears played on June 17^th at Kung Fu Necktie, my venue drug of choice, with Austin trio Woven Bones and Philadelphia locals Far-Out Fangtooth. I wasn’t even planning to write this review, but I feel like it would be a public disservice not to after how incredible the night turned out to be. Turnout was modest, thanks to a Pissed Jeans concert around the corner and Game 7 of whatever everyone’s pretending to care about this week, but that didn’t seem to matter to the bands at all. Every. Single. One. KILLED. IT. See the excessive punctuation? See the capital letters? Yeah. That good. It’s really quite difficult to communicate just how much so without the frantic gestures I’m currently making at my computer. Use your imagination.

Far-Out Fangtooth is one of those bands that does garage with a hint of rockabilly, something that you might not initially notice by listening to their recordings on MySpace. Even the way the four of them were dressed highlighted their distinctive sound. One guitarist sported jet-black hair, a ripped jean jacket, tight jeans, black boots. The other wore a simple white shirt-blue jean combo and had the look of pre-fame Kings of Leon. Their female bassist was tiny and punkish, but also quite sweet, and spent most of the set sitting quietly off to the side. On drums was perhaps the most interestingly dressed guy of the bunch, wearing a shaman-poncho looking thing with complete normalcy. For their first show at KFN, Fangtooth were loud, confident, and unabashedly proud of what they were doing. Everyone noticed, too. Fun fact – they stuck around after the show for weekly resident DJ gig Night Train to spin a set, which they started out with Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.” Yep.

We'll Do It Live: Peter Wolf Crier In Studio

This past Saturday Peter Wolf Crier crammed their gear into our tiny WGTB studios and delivered a soulful performance of these four songs. The duo has built a strong base in Minnesota, and after recording Inter-Be, they joined Jagjaguar and started this short but intense national tour. The small crowd that gathered to check out their performance was delighted with the intimacy of the show and impressed with the atmospheric sound they were able to so naturally create. Read Fiona's review of the album and listen to/download the four live tracks below!

Peter Wolf Crier - Crutch and Cane by igorgerman

Peter Wolf Crier - For Now by igorgerman

Peter Wolf Crier - Saturday Night by igorgerman

Peter Wolf Crier - Untitled 101 by igorgerman

Sounds of Summer: A Summer Music Preview

Sounds of Summer:

A Summer Music Preview

We are now more than half-way through 2010,

and it has been a phenomenal year for music so far. We have seen (or rather heard), top-notch albums from high profile names such as The National, LCD Soundsystem, She & Him, and Beach House, as well as some surprisingly great albums from up and coming artists like Delta Spirit, Avi Buffalo, Surfer Blood, and The Tallest Man On Earth. Things don’t seem to be slowing down either, as a slew of summer releases will keep the good music coming through the sunny season. Here are some of the season’s albums we’re eagerly awaiting.

Did the Intern Show Up? New column!

Over here at WGTB, we get pretty excited about new columns, especially in the summertime. And this one is gonna be good. Below, the first installment of DJ Emily Simpson's “Did the Intern Show Up?”: A Diary of Long Nights & Even Longer E-mail Threads From a Philadelphia Music Club.

Hello! Welcome to my new column, a venture that could just as easily be titled “What I Did During My Summer Vacation” and exists more or less for the purpose of my telling absurd stories about the people and problems I deal with on a daily basis. Since June 1, I have held the not-exactly-coveted title of intern for Kung Fu Necktie, which is hands-down the most unique bar-slash-music-venue I have ever seen. Located in Fishtown, a neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, it holds about 120 people at full capacity – think along the lines of DC9 or the backstage at The Black Cat.

I’m sure you’re wondering why they would even need an intern. Sucks to be you then, because I don’t have the answer to that particular question, even after the thousandth time I’ve been asked. What I can tell you (briefly) is what I actually do. I am officially or unofficially in charge of: updating the website/calendar, maintaining the Facebook and Twitter pages, keeping track of the sound techs, working as “band liaison” (aka telling them how to get their drinks at the bar), printing will-call ticket lists, losing at pool, checking IDs, working the door, helping out the bartenders, moving amps, filling out paperwork to settle with bands after shows, and texting my boss reminders about absolutely everything. There’s more, never fear. The duties of the intern – or the slave, as some of the patrons have taken to calling me – are endless and varied.

Doesn’t my job sound fun? Don’t you want to move to Philadelphia immediately and have a cage match or drinking contest to decide who gets to keep it? No? That’s okay. I actually kind of adore it. A lot of that has to do with the people, who I swear on a huge stack of vinyl I am not making up or exaggerating at all. Here’s a brief introduction, so in the future you can pretend to have a vague idea of what I’m talking about. Or not. It’s completely up to you.